Can the Mopologists Rise to the Challenge?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2023 4:01 am
One of my privileges as the B. H. Roberts Chair is getting to write the Top Ten list each year. It is, as the old phrase goes, a “richly satisfying” exercise. But it’s January and not December, and so my mind is naturally drawn to the idea of resolutions—or “challenges,” as it were. Simply put: I would like to challenge the Mopologists generally—and Daniel Peterson in particular—to take up the pen and defend their activities. I wouldn’t ask them to do anything that I was unwilling to do myself, so my challenge is simple:
What are the Top Ten Best Things that Interpreter Has Published?
I’m genuinely curious about this. I’m also 99% certain that no one will accept my challenge, and here’s why:
—Interpreter has published some lump of crap every week for over 500 weeks. Who, if anyone, has read all of it? I would be willing to bet that DCP himself—the President, no less!—has not read even 10% of the articles. And by “read” I mean the whole thing—skimming or merely reading the abstract doesn’t count.
—Mopologetics is riddled with hyper-politicized infighting. So, while Allen Wyatt or Kyler Rasmussen *may* have read enough articles to put together a Top Ten, they don’t dare publish it out of fear of pissing off DCP, or John Gee, or some other loose cannon. How much hot water would they be in if one of the egomaniacs failed to make the Top Ten?
—Ultimately, the main tactic is, and has always been, volume rather than quality. The President doesn’t make boasts about the “impressiveness” of the “scholarship”; the only thing he can point to is the regularity and volume. Well, having regular bowel movements is a positive thing, too.
So I hereby issue a challenge to the Mopologists! Bring your A-game! Rise to the occasion! Or, fulfill my prophecy and do nothing. The choice is yours!
What are the Top Ten Best Things that Interpreter Has Published?
I’m genuinely curious about this. I’m also 99% certain that no one will accept my challenge, and here’s why:
—Interpreter has published some lump of crap every week for over 500 weeks. Who, if anyone, has read all of it? I would be willing to bet that DCP himself—the President, no less!—has not read even 10% of the articles. And by “read” I mean the whole thing—skimming or merely reading the abstract doesn’t count.
—Mopologetics is riddled with hyper-politicized infighting. So, while Allen Wyatt or Kyler Rasmussen *may* have read enough articles to put together a Top Ten, they don’t dare publish it out of fear of pissing off DCP, or John Gee, or some other loose cannon. How much hot water would they be in if one of the egomaniacs failed to make the Top Ten?
—Ultimately, the main tactic is, and has always been, volume rather than quality. The President doesn’t make boasts about the “impressiveness” of the “scholarship”; the only thing he can point to is the regularity and volume. Well, having regular bowel movements is a positive thing, too.
So I hereby issue a challenge to the Mopologists! Bring your A-game! Rise to the occasion! Or, fulfill my prophecy and do nothing. The choice is yours!
